Graeme McCracken Chief Operating Officer, RB Search [email_address] Vertical Search: Challenges & Opportunities

Search: A growing market! Forrester predicted $34b by 2010, we believe it will be closer to double this with at least $11b in B2B 59% of dollars migrating from other media budgets (print, web display ads, shopping directories, email, direct marketing, etc) 35% of user sessions initiated by a query, making site search the most used application on a typical web site B2B site search success rate is only 58% 30% of visitors abandon a site with each failed query Industry/Vertical search typically yields a 30 – 60% increase in page views per year – 50% from new customers “ What was the result of your online research?” Google most used in B2B markets

Forrester predicted $34b by 2010, we believe it will be closer to double this with at least $11b in B2B

59% of dollars migrating from other media budgets (print, web display ads, shopping directories, email, direct marketing, etc)

35% of user sessions initiated by a query, making site search the most used application on a typical web site

B2B site search success rate is only 58%

30% of visitors abandon a site with each failed query

Industry/Vertical search typically yields a 30 – 60% increase in page views per year – 50% from new customers

The Fried Egg Model Addressed Market “ Bonus” audience

It may feel safe….but for how long?

Frogs are SO! hot

Understand your market, content & search Researcher Domain queries Focused vocabulary Initial broad queries Refinement Queries in related domains User Profiles: Researchers Buyers Browsers Researchers and buyers behave similarly, as they are both goal-oriented. The system need to be designed with their needs in mind Browsers are ancillary and will benefit by proxy Browser Broad queries Generalize vocabulary Longer sessions Buyer Goal seeker Domain queries Focused vocabulary Specific queries Refinement Click-thrus Search Platform Typical Searches: Goal-oriented, precise Multi-term with no conjunctives Most likely to include category or solution domain terms Refinement, sorting and filtering will be important aspects of the results UI Users will rely heavily on system to “return the right thing” or to help them “find the right thing”

User Profiles:

Researchers

Buyers

Browsers

Researchers and buyers behave similarly, as they are both goal-oriented. The system need to be designed with their needs in mind

Browsers are ancillary and will benefit by proxy

Typical Searches:

Goal-oriented, precise

Multi-term with no conjunctives

Most likely to include category or solution domain terms

Refinement, sorting and filtering will be important aspects of the results UI

Users will rely heavily on system to “return the right thing” or to help them “find the right thing”

The problem with search today Precision Mention vs. About Noise & Spam Recall Breadth vs. Depth Context & Semantics Refinement Navigation Mindset & Intention Impact Searcher Frustration Advertiser ROI

Precision

Mention vs. About

Noise & Spam

Recall

Breadth vs. Depth

Context & Semantics

Refinement

Navigation

Mindset & Intention

Impact

Searcher Frustration

Advertiser ROI

The other problem with search – an inverse model The more relevant/targeted the advert….the less you pay

RB Search Technology Platform Improve results and implement testing methodology Develop UI and Usability competence Continue to develop product Zibb on Demand 2. Build best in breed Vertical Search & Widgets for all RB websites Zibb.com & Zibbsearch.nl 1. Build best in breed B2B Search Engine

Technology Platform

Improve results and implement testing methodology

Develop UI and Usability competence

Continue to develop product

What does search do for us? Millions of B2B Spec Sheets, Catalogs, Press Releases, White Papers Topic Taxonomy Content Indexing Product & Service Ontology Geographic Taxonomy Individual/ Position Over 2 billion B2B Web Pages, News & Blogs 3 million companies 220k Products/ Services Millions of Attendees & Exhibitors Taxonomy links all B2B content together Crawl – RB proprietary plus B2B web content Aggregate Content – a holistic design principle User Interface/Branding Architecture Not one site, but a multitude & powers all 900 websites and more Benefits: Answering B2B queries; Web /Blog plus site search; Adsense for Search; Traffic Cascade to RB sites/CPM & CPC Revenue B2B Web The Search Engine Company Taxonomy +5 million News Articles Multiple Repositories

Taxonomy links all B2B content together

Crawl – RB proprietary plus B2B web content

Aggregate Content – a holistic design principle

User Interface/Branding Architecture

Not one site, but a multitude & powers all 900 websites and more

Benefits: Answering B2B queries; Web /Blog plus site search; Adsense for Search; Traffic Cascade to RB sites/CPM & CPC Revenue

What is the Value to the Consumer? From… ...To Content Source All the Web/Site Specific Industry Specific Search Failure Rate > 50% < 5% Relevance Broad and Arbitrary Contextual & Explainable Interaction Pull Push & Pull Perception No Alternative Useful Disambiguation None Navigation Productivity Gather Links Analyze Information

What is the Benefit to the Business? From… ...To Search Traffic (% of Total) 1% More than 10% Overall Traffic Impact Limited Source of Differentiation Revenue per Search $? $0.05 Standards None Scale & Advantage Search Roadmap Not a Priority Competitive Advantage Other Monetization NA Incremental Maintenance & Support Site Specific Centralized & Dedicated Sources: Outsell; Forrester

Zibb – branded vertical search

ZIbb – Better Answers by Market

Zibb On Demand – Beyond Search ! Video & Part Search 112 ive ZoD’s +70 live with News Feeds, Related Items, Infusion on sites that generate +50 million page impressions per month driving 54% YOY increase in page impressions Driven by 15 million ZoD/widget, 130 million queries and more than 2 million direct searches per month Growing at +30% per month

112 ive ZoD’s

+70 live with News Feeds, Related Items, Infusion

on sites that generate +50 million page impressions per month

driving 54% YOY increase in page impressions

Driven by 15 million ZoD/widget, 130 million queries and more than 2 million direct searches per month

Growing at +30% per month

Domain Expertise – better answers Content Type – the web is a medium, not a type of content! Disambiguation – did you want news/product/blog/catalog, etc? Market – you are special, so is the content within our index Market specific, quality content – own your own index! Taxonomy, Ontology, Folksonomy – describe your market Answers, not questions – lotus car or lotus position Aboutness Everything you ever wanted to know ‘about’ …… but were afraid to ask! A specific zone for all our specialised users RB Search classifies all our content by multiple taxonomies by Topic, Product, Company, Geography, Individual/Job Position Web 2.0?……………. no more like Web 3.0 (the Semantic Version) ………………………………………………………… ..In short it is about Answers, not Questions!

Content Type – the web is a medium, not a type of content!

Disambiguation – did you want news/product/blog/catalog, etc?

Market – you are special, so is the content within our index

Market specific, quality content – own your own index!

Taxonomy, Ontology, Folksonomy – describe your market

Answers, not questions – lotus car or lotus position

Aboutness

Everything you ever wanted to know ‘about’ …… but were afraid to ask!

A specific zone for all our specialised users

RB Search classifies all our content by multiple taxonomies by Topic, Product, Company, Geography, Individual/Job Position

Web 2.0?……………. no more like Web 3.0 (the Semantic Version)

………………………………………………………… ..In short it is about Answers, not Questions!

You may think I am decoupled…and you would be right! XML XML XML

Raising the Sea Level – Reverse Thinking Yeserday Today 950 websites EDN Flight Variety Powder Bulk Solids ECN

Not a silver bullet – you only get one of those!

Then you get carried away

Key takeaways Search fundamentally changes the game – both for internal and external content – Google proves this You can exploit this to do internal and external developments faster, cheaper and better Always choose the best product for that specific purpose, do not make do! Even second best costs you money and more importantly time It is not cheap…..but as an infrastructure and game changer it is very reasonable Business models are challenging and you need to be nimble in order to exploit opportunities Apply standards/taxonomies globally, do not try to standardise systems globally - its quicker, better and simpler Decouple, decouple, decouple….keeps it simple to manage, fast to integrate and incredibly flexible It can power far more than you would ever believe possible - it breaks the RDBMS rules and can make you agile It’s about speed and aggression – that is what drives innovation …… ..it is also a little frightening, as it breaks rules, challenges business and IT and liberates you

Search fundamentally changes the game – both for internal and external content – Google proves this

You can exploit this to do internal and external developments faster, cheaper and better

Always choose the best product for that specific purpose, do not make do! Even second best costs you money and more importantly time

It is not cheap…..but as an infrastructure and game changer it is very reasonable

Business models are challenging and you need to be nimble in order to exploit opportunities

Apply standards/taxonomies globally, do not try to standardise systems globally - its quicker, better and simpler

Decouple, decouple, decouple….keeps it simple to manage, fast to integrate and incredibly flexible

It can power far more than you would ever believe possible - it breaks the RDBMS rules and can make you agile

It’s about speed and aggression – that is what drives innovation

…… ..it is also a little frightening, as it breaks rules, challenges business and IT and liberates you

Questions

Questions